AN EARLY GREEN HORNET CAST: RAYMOND TOYO, AL HODGE & JIM IRWIN.
THE GREEN HORNET
It was the third anniversary of The Lone Ranger at George W. Trendle’s WXYZ/Detroit. But there was no celebration at the station on January 31, 1936. Instead, there was an eager anticipation generated by the introduction of the station’s newest creation by Ranger’s writer Fran Striker and director Jim Jewell scheduled for that evening. Detroit newspapers carried a large WXYZ ad which explained the excitement:
10:30 p.m. TONIGHT !!! 10:30 p.m.
Radio Premier of
THE ADVENTURES OF THE HORNET
WXYZ’s New Mystery Serial Requiring over two months to write, cast and rehearse,
this new thriller brings to the audience of WXYZ a series
of programs depicting of Law Breakers Within The Law!
Britt Reid Michael Axford Kato, The Jap Butler
A newspaperman's son Beloved character of the late Played by a native Japanese
whose playboy activities Manhunters will be one of whose acting in motion pictures are a blind for exposing highlights of the activities of with a Detroit company
public enemies! The Hornet! is unusually proficient!
This great new serial has the intrigue of The Scarlet Pimpernel; the mystery of The Bat;
the cleverness of Sherlock Holmes and the boldness of The G-Men!
10:30 p.m. TONIGHT! 10:30 p.m.
Trade paper Variety praised the initial episode the following week: “ Fran Striker, author of The Lone Ranger, has another promising program in The Adventures of The Hornet which made its debut on Friday (31st), on WXYZ/Detroit and the Michigan State web. (1)
"Hornet is clean and wholesome. And like 'The Lone Ranger', its hero represents the zenith in righteous living while still providing plenty of socko. He only punches bums in the jaw. All YMCA members are safe.
“Deals with Britt Reid, newspaper publisher’s son whose playboy activities provide a blind for exposing ‘law breakers within the law.’ His clever aide is Kato, a native Japanese butler who made the buzzing horn for his master’s super car. Michael Axford is a bodyguard-reporter provided for Reid by his father who placed his son in charge of ‘The Daily Sentinel.’ All cast characters are members of the WXYZ Players under the direction of James Jewell. Initial episode runs smoothly and swiftly.”
But the ad and review describe a program that only resembles the twice weekly series that made the leap to Mutual two years later. Within its first weeks, the color Green was attached to The Hornet’s name for copyright purposes. Britt Reid became less a playboy and more a responsible newspaper publisher. Reid’s secretary, Lenore Case, played by Jim Jewell‘s sister, Lenore Jewell Allman, became more important to the plots. Jack Petruzzi became a regular on the series as ace reporter Ed Lowry to compensate for the loss of Jim Irwin who played Michael Axford. Irwin was hospitalized in January, 1938, and died six months later. (2)
The most memorable addition was the eerie, insect-like sound of The Green Hornet’s sleek motorcar, The Black Beauty, created by WXYZ engineers using a Theremin, which became unique among program signatures. (3)
A sample from the early WXYZ series is from March 3, 1936. Notice that the introduction and closing music are played to completion to provide timing cues for local commercials at WXYZ and on the Michigan State Network.
The Green Hornet's initial cast, (pictured above), featured Al Hodge as Britt Reid, Jim Irwin as Mike Axford and Raymond Toyo, (fka Tolutaro Hayashi), as Kato. Each was first in a string of several actors whom Jim Jewell assigned to the roles. (4) An episode from March 17,1938, illustrates the progress of the show over two years just prior to its national exposure.
It took two years, the adding of color to the hero’s name plus cast and plot refinements when Mutual picked up the series on April 12, 1938, to run on Tuesday and Thursday nights at 7:30, alternating with The Lone Ranger on Monday-Wednesday-Fridays. (5)
Variety was there again with this review: “WXYZ/Detroit has a choice piece of property in this one. Brought east via Mutual’s wire for the first time last week and although it runs parallel to the second half of Rudy Vallee’s stanza, ‘The Green Hornet’ should accumulate enough of a following to make it a sound commercial candidate. Coming out of the same studios that created ‘The Lone Ranger,’ it blends exciting plot with skillful production, deft writing and good all- around acting. It has sustained pace and ample imagination and about the only place it can better itself is in the sketching of the central character, one deriving from the vigilante school of radio drama ala ‘The Shadow.’
The earliest sample of Green Hornet broadcasts taken from Mutual is dated May 5, 1938. But a nagging problem bothered H. Allen Campbell, General Manager of WXYZ every time The Green Hornet was broadcast. He knew that Fran Striker and Jim Jewell had given him another hit, but those interminably long pads of Rimsky-Korsakav’s Flight of The Bumble Bee before and after each episode were driving him to distraction and moreover what they represented - time that could be sold to a national advertiser instead of being provided for local and regional advertisers without WXYZ getting its rightful share of the rewards.
Campbell set about to correct the problem and in the fall of 1939 announced that The Green Hornet was moving from Mutual to NBC's Blue Network effective November 16th to accommodate a full network sponsor for the show, opposed to the split sales of The Lone Ranger to separate advertisers. In addition, the consolidation to one broadcast time allowed the show to cut back from two to one performances per broadcast. (6)
Not mentioned were any side deals involving The Lone Ranger, who would follow his grand nephew, The Green Hornet, from Mutual to Blue in three years. Nevertheless, The Green Hornet’s final broadcast on Mutual from November 9, 1939 closes with a billboard for Britt Reid’s replacement, Ned Jordan, Secret Agent. (7)
The first sample of The Green Hornet’s sporadic Blue Network run of 13 years is from November 23, 1939. Over the program’s remaining tenure its production seemed to improve as found in this broadcast from a year later, October 9, 1940. Kato’s Filipino nationality was made abundantly clear in the June 21, 1941, episode when Britt Reid casually tells his valet, “I thought you Filipinos had marvelous memories.” (8)
By September 26, 1942, the United States was involved in World War II, The Green Hornet’s mission was changed accordingly to, “…He matches wits with racketeers and saboteurs, risking his life so that criminals and enemy spies will feel the weight of the law by the sting of The Green Hornet.”
Early in the program's planning stages when the prototype of The Green Hornet was first proposed in George Trendle’s office at WXYZ, it was agreed that the hero of the series would be a descendent of The Lone Ranger and be a modern-day embodiment of The Masked Rider of The Plains - complete with an ethnic male companion, a sleek form of transportation and Boy Scout manners. The relationship between Ranger John Reid and Hornet Britt Reid was explained in the episode of November 11, 1947 when Britt confesses to his visiting father that he is The Green Hornet. (8)
The Green Hornet’s Blue/ABC run was nearing its end when this episode, from June 13, 1949 was taken. Two years later it was back on Mutual’s late afternoon schedule for a final 13 weeks beginning on October 8, 1952. The final episode in this collection, December 3, 1952, is the next-to-the-last broadcast in The Green Hornet’s long series.
Because so little of The Green Hornet’s run met the sponsorship qualifications of the rating services it only shows up in one report, the 1947-48 season, when it was sponsored by General Mills. It scored a respectable 11.9 average on Tuesday & Thursday nights which ranked it in 86th place over the season.
The program may not have generated ratings, but The Green Hornet did gather millions of young fans over its 16 years and provided George Trendle and his partners with millions in income through the sales of toys, books and comics plus movie and television rights.
(1) The Michigan State Network, anchored and sold to advertisers by WXYZ, consisted of stations in Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, Jackson, Flint and Bay City.
(2) Gilly Shea took the Michael Axford role in 1938 and remained for the rest of the program’s run.
(3) The Theremin, invented by Russian physicist Leon Theremin in 1920 was patented in the United States in 1928. Known as, “The instrument you play without touching it”, the Theremin was mostly used in films to build mysterious tension.
(4) Al Hodge became better known by early television viewers as Captain Video. When Raymond Toyo left the cast, the role of Kato was taken by Rollon Parker, who doubled as the newsboy hawing The Daily Sentinel at the end of each Green Hornet broadcast.
(5) Although WXYZ had been a Blue Network affiliate since September 29, 1935, it continued to feed The Lone Ranger to Mutual until 1942.
(6) Campbell had a long wait for a national sponsor. General Mills finally picked up The Green Hornet for eight months on ABC in 1948 and Orange Crush bought it for three months pn Mutual in 1952.
(7) Ned Jordan, Secret Agent starred Jack McCarthy who would eventually play The Green Hornet in its final season, 1951-52.
(8) John Dunning reports in his Encyclopedia of Old Time Radio that Kato was a college graduate, a trained mathematician, a judo expert, had developed the Hornet’s non-lethal, gas gun and drove The Black Beauty like a race car driver.
(9) The role of Britt Reid’s father, Dan Reid, Jr., was played by John Todd. It’s hard to believe that this crusty voice is the same John Todd who played The Lone Ranger’s Indian companion, Tonto, since 1933.
Copyright © 2020, Jim Ramsburg, Estero FL Email: [email protected]
It was the third anniversary of The Lone Ranger at George W. Trendle’s WXYZ/Detroit. But there was no celebration at the station on January 31, 1936. Instead, there was an eager anticipation generated by the introduction of the station’s newest creation by Ranger’s writer Fran Striker and director Jim Jewell scheduled for that evening. Detroit newspapers carried a large WXYZ ad which explained the excitement:
10:30 p.m. TONIGHT !!! 10:30 p.m.
Radio Premier of
THE ADVENTURES OF THE HORNET
WXYZ’s New Mystery Serial Requiring over two months to write, cast and rehearse,
this new thriller brings to the audience of WXYZ a series
of programs depicting of Law Breakers Within The Law!
Britt Reid Michael Axford Kato, The Jap Butler
A newspaperman's son Beloved character of the late Played by a native Japanese
whose playboy activities Manhunters will be one of whose acting in motion pictures are a blind for exposing highlights of the activities of with a Detroit company
public enemies! The Hornet! is unusually proficient!
This great new serial has the intrigue of The Scarlet Pimpernel; the mystery of The Bat;
the cleverness of Sherlock Holmes and the boldness of The G-Men!
10:30 p.m. TONIGHT! 10:30 p.m.
Trade paper Variety praised the initial episode the following week: “ Fran Striker, author of The Lone Ranger, has another promising program in The Adventures of The Hornet which made its debut on Friday (31st), on WXYZ/Detroit and the Michigan State web. (1)
"Hornet is clean and wholesome. And like 'The Lone Ranger', its hero represents the zenith in righteous living while still providing plenty of socko. He only punches bums in the jaw. All YMCA members are safe.
“Deals with Britt Reid, newspaper publisher’s son whose playboy activities provide a blind for exposing ‘law breakers within the law.’ His clever aide is Kato, a native Japanese butler who made the buzzing horn for his master’s super car. Michael Axford is a bodyguard-reporter provided for Reid by his father who placed his son in charge of ‘The Daily Sentinel.’ All cast characters are members of the WXYZ Players under the direction of James Jewell. Initial episode runs smoothly and swiftly.”
But the ad and review describe a program that only resembles the twice weekly series that made the leap to Mutual two years later. Within its first weeks, the color Green was attached to The Hornet’s name for copyright purposes. Britt Reid became less a playboy and more a responsible newspaper publisher. Reid’s secretary, Lenore Case, played by Jim Jewell‘s sister, Lenore Jewell Allman, became more important to the plots. Jack Petruzzi became a regular on the series as ace reporter Ed Lowry to compensate for the loss of Jim Irwin who played Michael Axford. Irwin was hospitalized in January, 1938, and died six months later. (2)
The most memorable addition was the eerie, insect-like sound of The Green Hornet’s sleek motorcar, The Black Beauty, created by WXYZ engineers using a Theremin, which became unique among program signatures. (3)
A sample from the early WXYZ series is from March 3, 1936. Notice that the introduction and closing music are played to completion to provide timing cues for local commercials at WXYZ and on the Michigan State Network.
The Green Hornet's initial cast, (pictured above), featured Al Hodge as Britt Reid, Jim Irwin as Mike Axford and Raymond Toyo, (fka Tolutaro Hayashi), as Kato. Each was first in a string of several actors whom Jim Jewell assigned to the roles. (4) An episode from March 17,1938, illustrates the progress of the show over two years just prior to its national exposure.
It took two years, the adding of color to the hero’s name plus cast and plot refinements when Mutual picked up the series on April 12, 1938, to run on Tuesday and Thursday nights at 7:30, alternating with The Lone Ranger on Monday-Wednesday-Fridays. (5)
Variety was there again with this review: “WXYZ/Detroit has a choice piece of property in this one. Brought east via Mutual’s wire for the first time last week and although it runs parallel to the second half of Rudy Vallee’s stanza, ‘The Green Hornet’ should accumulate enough of a following to make it a sound commercial candidate. Coming out of the same studios that created ‘The Lone Ranger,’ it blends exciting plot with skillful production, deft writing and good all- around acting. It has sustained pace and ample imagination and about the only place it can better itself is in the sketching of the central character, one deriving from the vigilante school of radio drama ala ‘The Shadow.’
The earliest sample of Green Hornet broadcasts taken from Mutual is dated May 5, 1938. But a nagging problem bothered H. Allen Campbell, General Manager of WXYZ every time The Green Hornet was broadcast. He knew that Fran Striker and Jim Jewell had given him another hit, but those interminably long pads of Rimsky-Korsakav’s Flight of The Bumble Bee before and after each episode were driving him to distraction and moreover what they represented - time that could be sold to a national advertiser instead of being provided for local and regional advertisers without WXYZ getting its rightful share of the rewards.
Campbell set about to correct the problem and in the fall of 1939 announced that The Green Hornet was moving from Mutual to NBC's Blue Network effective November 16th to accommodate a full network sponsor for the show, opposed to the split sales of The Lone Ranger to separate advertisers. In addition, the consolidation to one broadcast time allowed the show to cut back from two to one performances per broadcast. (6)
Not mentioned were any side deals involving The Lone Ranger, who would follow his grand nephew, The Green Hornet, from Mutual to Blue in three years. Nevertheless, The Green Hornet’s final broadcast on Mutual from November 9, 1939 closes with a billboard for Britt Reid’s replacement, Ned Jordan, Secret Agent. (7)
The first sample of The Green Hornet’s sporadic Blue Network run of 13 years is from November 23, 1939. Over the program’s remaining tenure its production seemed to improve as found in this broadcast from a year later, October 9, 1940. Kato’s Filipino nationality was made abundantly clear in the June 21, 1941, episode when Britt Reid casually tells his valet, “I thought you Filipinos had marvelous memories.” (8)
By September 26, 1942, the United States was involved in World War II, The Green Hornet’s mission was changed accordingly to, “…He matches wits with racketeers and saboteurs, risking his life so that criminals and enemy spies will feel the weight of the law by the sting of The Green Hornet.”
Early in the program's planning stages when the prototype of The Green Hornet was first proposed in George Trendle’s office at WXYZ, it was agreed that the hero of the series would be a descendent of The Lone Ranger and be a modern-day embodiment of The Masked Rider of The Plains - complete with an ethnic male companion, a sleek form of transportation and Boy Scout manners. The relationship between Ranger John Reid and Hornet Britt Reid was explained in the episode of November 11, 1947 when Britt confesses to his visiting father that he is The Green Hornet. (8)
The Green Hornet’s Blue/ABC run was nearing its end when this episode, from June 13, 1949 was taken. Two years later it was back on Mutual’s late afternoon schedule for a final 13 weeks beginning on October 8, 1952. The final episode in this collection, December 3, 1952, is the next-to-the-last broadcast in The Green Hornet’s long series.
Because so little of The Green Hornet’s run met the sponsorship qualifications of the rating services it only shows up in one report, the 1947-48 season, when it was sponsored by General Mills. It scored a respectable 11.9 average on Tuesday & Thursday nights which ranked it in 86th place over the season.
The program may not have generated ratings, but The Green Hornet did gather millions of young fans over its 16 years and provided George Trendle and his partners with millions in income through the sales of toys, books and comics plus movie and television rights.
(1) The Michigan State Network, anchored and sold to advertisers by WXYZ, consisted of stations in Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, Jackson, Flint and Bay City.
(2) Gilly Shea took the Michael Axford role in 1938 and remained for the rest of the program’s run.
(3) The Theremin, invented by Russian physicist Leon Theremin in 1920 was patented in the United States in 1928. Known as, “The instrument you play without touching it”, the Theremin was mostly used in films to build mysterious tension.
(4) Al Hodge became better known by early television viewers as Captain Video. When Raymond Toyo left the cast, the role of Kato was taken by Rollon Parker, who doubled as the newsboy hawing The Daily Sentinel at the end of each Green Hornet broadcast.
(5) Although WXYZ had been a Blue Network affiliate since September 29, 1935, it continued to feed The Lone Ranger to Mutual until 1942.
(6) Campbell had a long wait for a national sponsor. General Mills finally picked up The Green Hornet for eight months on ABC in 1948 and Orange Crush bought it for three months pn Mutual in 1952.
(7) Ned Jordan, Secret Agent starred Jack McCarthy who would eventually play The Green Hornet in its final season, 1951-52.
(8) John Dunning reports in his Encyclopedia of Old Time Radio that Kato was a college graduate, a trained mathematician, a judo expert, had developed the Hornet’s non-lethal, gas gun and drove The Black Beauty like a race car driver.
(9) The role of Britt Reid’s father, Dan Reid, Jr., was played by John Todd. It’s hard to believe that this crusty voice is the same John Todd who played The Lone Ranger’s Indian companion, Tonto, since 1933.
Copyright © 2020, Jim Ramsburg, Estero FL Email: [email protected]
